Episode Overview

Podcast: The Email Sound Booth with Liz Wilcox
Episode: SALES EMAIL SUMMIT – Melquea Smith: Finding My First Founding Members
Date: August 21, 2025
Theme:
This episode features Melquea Smith, a children's book illustrator and the creator of a membership offering diverse clip art of Black and Brown kids. The focus is on Melquea's journey to launching her membership via email marketing, her most memorable sales email, how she found her first founding members, and her biggest lessons from launching.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Most Interesting Sales Email Melquea Sent

• Email Details:
  • Subject Line: “For your eyes only 👁️👄👁️” (01:22)
  • Melquea shares that the unique, funny subject line was a source of joy for her and her readers. She reads the full email aloud, which was warm, authentic, and showcased sneak peeks of her art collections.
  • Content Strategy: Shared her excitement, outlined upcoming illustration themes (kids reading, writing, with big school supplies, dancing, pretend, pets, unique professions), and invited readers to join as founding members before doors closed.
  • Call to Action: “If you’re ready to join me, click the button below and let’s get started. Because kids deserve to see themselves in the content we create.” (04:10)
  • Stats: Sent to 145 people, 47.6% open rate, 0.7% click rate.
  • Notable Quotes:
    • “That set of emojis always makes me laugh. Oh man. Okay, I’m done now. Silliness aside, I wanted to hop in your inbox and share some works in progress...” — Melquea (01:22)
    • “I loved just having the subject line...it was really, really fun for me and I was super excited to share this versus something that like generated income.” — Melquea (04:14)

2. Did the Email Convert? The Founding Members Story

• Founding Members: Melquea gained 7 founding members at $5.99/month from her launch sequence. Five are still active. (06:31)
• Lessons Learned:
  • Importance of validating ideas through actual purchases, even before everything is ready (no finalized membership name, not all graphics made).
  • Leveraged direct communication with members post-signup (“I asked, ‘Do you have time for a 15-min call?’ and ended up chatting for about an hour...”). (08:42)
• Authenticity Over Perfection:
  • “I wasn’t ready. I was not ready...I didn’t have a name for the membership...but what I offered was an inherent need, which is desperately needed: clip art that centers Black and Brown kids.” (07:03)
• Transformative Shift: Viewed her art as a product with real impact, not just a creative endeavor.
  • “It’s really, really difficult for visual artists to figure out—what problems does my art solve?” (07:56)

3. Launching and Email List Takeaways

• Customer Engagement: Direct calls with members gave insight on what they needed and why they joined. Testimonials and feedback fueled clarity in her messaging.
• Mindset Shifts:
  • It's normal not to have all the answers up-front; clarity comes through taking action.
  • Selling via email is a learning process: “There is so much I’m learning just through crafting sales emails.” (13:26)
  • Sending frequent emails during launches is okay: “If they are ‘bombarded with emails,’ they can unsubscribe and come back, or maybe they weren’t my target audience to begin with.” (12:00)

4. Resources, Support, and Community

• Mentorship: Melquea credits Liz Wilcox, Zack Spuckler (facebook ads advice), and Amy (copywriting clarity) as influences.
• Membership Evolution: This was Melquea’s second official launch, now with a brand name (“Brown Sugar Graphics”) and clear sales page.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Starting Imperfectly:
  • “I wasn’t the sage on the stage...I’m the person that is using my skill set of illustration to serve you and serve the littles in your life that you impact.” – Melquea (07:42)
• On Validation:
  • “The best way to know that it’s viable is if someone actually purchases” – Melquea (06:53)
• On Learning through Action:
  • “You’ve got to sell to learn what it takes to sell.” – Liz Wilcox (13:28)
• On Email Volume:
  • “And as scary as that sounds, I did it before. That means I can do it again. If they are ‘bombarded with emails,’ they can unsubscribe and come back.” – Melquea (12:00)

How to Join Melquea’s Email List / Membership

• Website: prettykittypaintings.com
• Sign-Up: Click the “Surprise” button in the header for three free illustrations.
• Melquea’s Warm Send-Off: “Thank you so much, Liz. And thank you so much, my dear listener, for tuning in to Sales Email Summit. You’re gonna do great. I’m so proud of each and every one of you for just showing up today.” (14:21)

Host’s Reflections

• Liz celebrates Melquea’s growth—she’s been in Liz’s email marketing membership for over a year, came in unsure, but now is succeeding and inspiring others.
• Liz plans to “steal” Melquea’s emoji subject line for her own emails.
• Liz plugs her own template pack, inspired by the summit and members like Melquea.

Key Timestamps

• [01:03] – Melquea introduces herself & reads her favorite sales email
• [04:10] – Email stats and reflections on authenticity
• [06:19] – Conversation about founding member sales and launch learnings
• [08:42] – Insights from one-on-one member chats
• [12:00] – Mindset shifts and lessons from repeated launches
• [13:26] – Reflections on learning through sales emails
• [13:52] – How to sign up for Melquea’s list and get free illustrations
• [14:37] – Liz’s closing thoughts and endorsement

The Takeaway

This episode highlights the power of authentic communication in email marketing, the importance of launching before you’re ready, and the value of learning through doing—especially for new creators. Melquea’s story is a blueprint for other artists and entrepreneurs: center your mission, connect genuinely with your audience, and let learning lead to sales.